Kabuki is a traditional stage art in Japan, together with Noh,
Bunraku and
others.
In 2005, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural
Organization) registered Kabuki as Intangible Cultural
Heritage.

The following is taken from an article on the UNESCO
website.

I quote it because the explanation is very well summed up in a
world-wide view.

Kabuki is a Japanese traditional theater form, which originated in
the Edo
period at the
beginning of the seventeenth century and was particularly popular
among
townspeople.
Originally, both men and women acted in Kabuki plays, but eventually
only male
actors performed the plays: a tradition that has remained to
the present day.
Male
actors specialized in women’s roles are called onnagata. Two
other
major
role
types are
aragoto
(rough style) and wagoto (soft style).

Kabuki plays are about historical events and moral conflict in
relationships of
the
heart.
The actors speak in a monotone voice and are accompanied by
traditional
instruments.
The Kabuki stage is equipped with several gadgets, such as
revolving stages
and
trapdoors through which the actors can appear and disappear. Another
speciality of the Kabuki stage is a footbridge (hanamichi) that
extends into the
audience.
Important characteristics of Kabuki theatre include its
particular
music,
costumes, stage devices and props as well as specific plays,
language
and acting styles, such as the mie, in which the actor holds a
characteristic
pose
to
establish his character. Keshÿ, the particular make-up,
provides an element
of style
easily recognizable even by those
unfamiliar with the art
form.

After
1868, when Japan opened to Western influence, actors strove to
heighten
the reputation of Kabuki among the upper classes and to adapt the
traditional
styles to
modern tastes. Today, Kabuki is the most popular of the traditional
styles of Japanese drama.

Q2. What makes Kabuki so charming?

There
are many attractions in
Kabuki.
I love its stories, costumes, make-ups, acting, actors, stage
settings, dancings,
music, the
voices of
narrators.

I
think many attractive features are based on the
fact that Kabuki is over 400
years
old, and the plays become a history lesson told in an
entertaining way.
The
different acting styles and stage setting have long been
established.
Actor
titles
are hereditary, so now, we can see KATAOKA Nizaemon XV on
stage,
sometimes in the same plays that his family's first generation,
Nakamura
Nizaemon
I, played in the 1600's. The sons succeed the
actingstyle of their
family and start their training at the
early age of
6.

These days, 5 Kabuki actors have been
designated "living national treasures" in
Japan.